This ride has finally come on the menu :)
The route is mostly road with some gravel ascent to and descent from Sveta Gera.
I have picked a week day to have less traffic on the hills.
The weather was good, little bit windy, and I havent paid much attention to the wind direction since it was not high (I would not ride in high winds anyway).
It was supposed the blow from the south / west (but that was actually the day before) but since I postponed the ride one day after, on the ride day I noticed the wind from the north (as I was approaching Samobor), but this wasnt an issue since I quickly entered Samoborsko gorje, Žumberak and rode through it all the way to Sveta Gera, so this wind was not a problem in the hills. And it actally helped little bit afterwards :)
Water source somewhere before the village of Petričko Selo. There are quite a few water sources on the way through Žumberak, including some waterfalls so water is not a issue.
As I have not ridden this road from Stojdraga to Sošice (which is a real gem actually) for several years now, the first pleasant surprise for me was that they have put anew asphalt which now goes from the beginning of the climb before Stojdraga all the way to Poklek (a lovely little village in Žumberak). This road was not in best shape and now its superb to ride there. Unfortunately new asphalt road ends just after Poklek (why oh way?) which then follows with some kilometers of worst part of the road you need to endure (literaly hole on the hole). I forgot where this worst part was, but was quickly reminded afterwards. None of this really matters and should not persuade anybody from riding through Žumberak on this secluded road which gets even better as you get closer to Sošice and other little villages there (Sopote, Tomaševci..).
After Sošice (which is the start of ascent to Sveta Gera) you follow the gravel road all the way to the top. Road is wide, in good condition (could be better on places) there is to much loose gravel. Still I had not problem riding pretty much all (even with my current 28 mm road tires).
I have not riden this with a bicycle before (but I was on the top or at least so I remember from long time ago).
The top of Sveta Gera was peaceful, with only a few people around. There is a shelter and small chapels on the top so one could easily spend the night there if found on some adventure.
The descent on the other side was really good. I picked a road towards Cerov log and was very plesantly surprised in how good condition the actual gravel road is. There is almost no loose gravel (like on the Croatian side of Sveta Gera) and the road is smooth (with a few holes here and there) so you are just flowing down. This is a good example of how the gravel roads should actually be (at least when its dry). Neither climbing a descending with a bike on the loose gravel is fun or easy for that matter and hard packed gravel is the best.
This reminded me of gravel road which leads to Ivančica (a mountian close by) which I have also visited with a bicycle that has a lot of loose gravel and its really hard to ascend with a bike unless you have a mountain bike tires and even then you struggle because all the loose gravel moves beneath your tires. The same goes for descend.
Once I got down the road on the Slovenian side, I did a little bike check, food and drink and began unnoficial part 2 of the day, which is a straight road push (no ascent pretty much all the way behind Sljeme). And this is where the wind (which today was coming from the north approximatelly) helped me a bit because it was pusching me in the right direction so I was felling super fast.
My energy levels were also very good, still had quite a bit in me until I hit reserve levels (when you go into battery saving mode :)
Somewhere before Sljeme I needed a store, but I still had food left, where I quickly grabbed another bottle of juice and few fresh tomatos before I hit final (whcih is not quite final) ascent over Sljeme. This road is the least visited by me (from all the roads leading to Sljeme) but there is nothing wrong with it actually except for being maybe little bit boring.
Here is where I finally started to get really tired, at least to push ascents. But it was a time to start suffering.
Since I forgot the road (which is a good thing if you ride endurance and you dont want to look at the map like me) I was pleasantly surpised when I hit the top near Hunjka sooner then expected.
Quick descent on the other side (I didnt needed any more food, which I consumed from the beginning of the ride like a bear) and I found myself in Zagreb. Only the final push over last few hills until I hit my neighborhood. I always ride above the hills and not through the city for obvious reasons (traffic, lack of city infrastructure etc..), even if this means I have to climb more.
Dont have much (any) of a pictures of the ride afterwards because I was mostly focused on riding.
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